Sorely-needed charity
At the Aalmoezeniershuis, almoner’s house, the trustees distributed bread to the very poorest. The Aalmoezeniershuis was founded in 1613 to keep the streets free of beggars. In the house people who had been refused admittance elsewhere, for not being burghers for example, were given food. Orphans who failed to find a place elsewhere were also taken in here. They received food in exchange for a bread token. The blind cripple in the foreground attracts our attention and underlines the lamentable state of the poor.
2137 keer bekeken